In particular, the fillable bottle allows the dispensing of a liquid product, for example of a cosmetic care, make-up or perfuming product, or a pharmaceutical product.
The fillable bottle comprises a body having an outer wall wherein a reservoir for conditioning the product is formed, as well as a device for the dispensing of the conditioned product which is mounted in a sealed manner on said body. In particular, the device for dispensing can include means for sampling in the form of a manually-actuated pump which is supplied with conditioned product, said pump being arranged for dispensing the product under pressure, for example in the form of an aerosol. Alternatively, the device for dispensing can include means for applying the product, for example in the form of a ball.
In an application example, the fillable bottles according to the invention allow the dispensing of product samples, in particular for a volume of product conditioned in the reservoir which is between 1 and 10 ml. In particular, the samples dispensed as such can allow a customer to test the product, the bottles then being qualified as sample tester bottles. Alternatively, the bottles can be referred to as “bag” is that they make it possible to easily transport a reduced volume of product, in opposition to bottles of a higher capacity which are in general heavy and cumbersome as they are opulent-looking.
In these applications, for example for reasons of logistics, practicality or environmental for recycling, it may be desirable to be able to refill the reservoir with product from a source of said product. Indeed, it is not very practical for a user to carry out the filling of the reservoir using a small funnel and not very ecological to discard an empty bottle in order to replace it with a full bottle constituting a refill.
Fillable bottles are already available for sale, wherein the body is provided with a relief valve for filling the reservoir which is arranged to allow for the putting into communication of a source of product with said reservoir for its filling. In particular, the relief valve comprises a passage for communication between the source and the reservoir, said passage having a seat provided with a valve which is mobile relatively to said seat between a sealed closed position and an open position of said passage.
In order to carry out the filling, prior art proposes to use a source bottle comprising a pump for dispensing, with the valve being displaced by means of the nozzle of said pump. In particular, the sealed contact of the nozzle on the valve allows the reversible opening of said valve as well as the actuating of the pump in order to inject source product into the reservoir through the relief valve.
However, this embodiment requires removing beforehand the push-button provided on the nozzle of the pump of the source bottle and actuating several times said nozzle in order to inject a sufficient volume of product, which is difficult and not very intuitive for the user. Furthermore, an incorrect putting of the push-button back on the nozzle after filling is potentially detrimental to the later proper operation of the source bottle.
Moreover, this embodiment poses problems of sealing during the filling, in particular due to the difficulty in correctly positioning the nozzle in a sealed contact on the valve and the injection pressure of the product through the relief valve. Furthermore, relief valves according to prior art are not compatible with the various configurations of off-the-shelf nozzles, which limits the possibilities of filling a bottle provided with such a relief valve, except when providing a set of adapters which further complicates the carrying out of a sealed filling.
During the filling also arises the problem of the volume of product introduced into the reservoir which has to be sufficient in order to allow the later use of the bottle while not being excessive in order to prevent the risks of overpressure inside said reservoir. Indeed, in particular in relation with a product containing alcohol or another volatile solvent, an increase in temperature induces an increase in the pressure in the reservoir which, in the case of an excessive filling, can reach a value that is detrimental for the use of the bottle, in particular in relation to a violent projection of product during the dispensing or even product leakage.